Spooky Cake Decorating Ideas for Halloween

Halloween is a great time to get kids to help out in the kitchen and make some spooktacular treats together. Cake decorating is quick and easy with things such as coloured sugar paste, modelling tools and sprinkles for cupcakes and, more importantly, great fun!

Best of all, the kinds of things you need to make for Halloween - ghosts, pumpkins, witches hats and broomsticks - are all really straightforward shapes so even those with minimal artistic skills can create a hauntingly good cake.

How to make icing in spooky Halloween colours

The first step to creating some frighteningly good cakes this Halloween is making or buying a selection of coloured icing. Coloured sugar paste icing can be bought in a range of colours and is ready to roll and use, or white icing can be dyed with a few drops of edible liquid colour.

These pots of edible liquid colour for icing open up a whole new world of colour for cakes, from glittery to neon, and can be mixed and tailored as you add them bit by bit to plain white icing to get the exact tone required. It is also easy to create a marbled effect by not completely spreading and kneading the icing. Dip a toothpick in the pot and poke this into the icing to add the colour a bit at a time and avoid spills or dyed hands while getting the desired effect.

Using edible liquid colour to make your own coloured icing means you can get the required shade for every part of the cake decoration, from bright orange pumpkins and black witches hats to green frogs and shimmery moons and stars.

Easy Halloween cake decorating designs

Start with some simple shapes for Halloween cakes and let your imagination run wild. Use a rolling pin to flatten the coloured icing and make the most of shape cutters or kitchen items as templates. For a ghost, use a small plate or glass to create the rounded shape at the top, then elongate and cut in a wiggly line across the bottom. A witches hat is simply a triangle on an oval - cut a cardboard template if you can’t do it freehand straight on to the coloured icing. Cauldrons and pumpkins are really easy shapes too, as are moons and stars.

Creatures such as cats, frogs, snakes, lizards and spiders can be a bit trickier to cut from a flat piece of icing so model these in 3D instead. A series of balls and sausage shapes from coloured icing or marzipan can be used for all body parts. The kids are likely to be expert at this so sit them down with a selection of icing and let them get creative. Don’t get too hung up on getting everything perfect - it will be eaten after all - and concentrate instead on using the different colours to create an overall spooky effect.

A cobweb makes a great background for a Halloween cake. Simply draw on to the icing in edible liquid colour using a cocktail stick. The basic shape is eight straight lines coming out from a central point with a spiral starting from the middle and going outwards. Add on some spiders and you’re sure to catch plenty of interest.

Additional touches for Halloween cakes

Halloween cakes are some of the most straightforward but effective decorating themes and it is easy to finish them off with a whole host of edible and non-edible additional extras. Add some edible shimmer dust for that touch of magic or sprinkle on edible stars to add interest to a night sky. Bead trim is a great way to finish off a Halloween cake and you can also use ribbons or pipe icing around the edges to add that final touch and create a professional look.